A PAIR of father-and-son car restorers are turning rust to riches by buying, selling and fixing some of the world's rarest cars. Among the classics Lance and Merlin McCormack, have worked on included John Lennon's iconic white 1965 Rolls-Royce Phantom and motor's worth $18.5m plus. Testing their mechanical know-how, Lance and Merlin have found themselves the go-to guys for bespoke classic car restoration. Other rarities to have been treated at their garage in Brentford, West London, include Captain America's shield used in the 2011 blockbuster, and a scratched windscreen of a 1950s Ferrari. Their current project is one for Merlin - pulling his dad and their business into the 21st Century and getting themselves on social networks around the world.
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MotorTranscript
00:00COMM 2014
00:03Master craftsmen Lance McCormack owns one of Britain's best classic car restoration
00:08businesses, Romance of Rust. Helping him manage it, is his son Merlin. The cutting-edge salesman,
00:14who also runs his own classic car dealership. Together, they turn rust into riches.
00:21On a daily basis, they work on some of the most desirable cars in the world.
00:25As much as £15million for some of these top-end Ferrari's, my own personal choice
00:29and should go up as I touch it.
00:32But Lance had a more humble start to his career.
00:35Give it another try.
00:37They stopped making idiots like me about 30 years ago.
00:40Now, I'm a traditional panel beater, manufacturing panels,
00:43not crash repair.
00:45I worked at the Rolls-Royce coach builder's
00:47called Mulliner Park Ward.
00:48So it's a tragedy that the skills have gone.
00:51And almost every metal worker that I know from there
00:53has either retired or got out of the trade.
00:55And I just kept going.
00:56That's all I really knew.
00:58So from being a dodo to being a go-to man
01:00for bespoke metal work.
01:03Helping to manage the business is Lance's son, Merlin,
01:06who also runs his own classic car dealership,
01:09Duke of London.
01:10And this is a Merlin.
01:13I've been around dad's business since I was born.
01:15He used to babysit us while we were still in our cot
01:18and while he was at work.
01:20I started buying and selling cars when I was 11.
01:22I found a gap in the market with eBay.
01:24I was buying heaps of junk, getting them through an MOT
01:27and flogging them on.
01:29I went into the city for a while.
01:30Despite doing quite well, I decided
01:32that I had to come back and do something with cars again.
01:35And Merlin's modern approach perfectly
01:37complements Lance's traditional craftsmanship.
01:40I've sold three cars on Instagram.
01:42I've sold a couple of cars through Facebook.
01:44I've managed those pages as well as I managed my website.
01:47It's had its ups and downs over the years.
01:49But I think I wouldn't have taken
01:50the leap from a full-time salaried job to something
01:54like this if I didn't have the confidence
01:56in our relationship.
01:57The father and son combination is paying dividends.
02:01And now the pair have a two-year waiting list of customers.
02:04Their current projects include this amazing Ferrari.
02:08It's a very important historic car.
02:10And this car, at some point in its life,
02:12would have been worth tens of thousands.
02:14Now we're talking about $10 million plus.
02:21And they look at a rare Aston Martin with engine trouble.
02:27Yeah.
02:28I don't think this screwdriver is going to cure that.
02:31Looking slightly less glamorous at the moment
02:33is another Aston Martin project.
02:35This is an Aston Martin DB4 shell showing
02:37the principle of superleggera.
02:39This one's in for a hell of a lot of work.
02:42We're doing a Zagato replica on an original Aston chassis here.
02:46And this thing here has cost us a quarter of a million pounds.
02:49Our one finished would be just over a million pounds.
02:51It would be a faithful replica of the Aston Martin DB4.
02:56Of a Zagato.
02:59Clearly, Lance and Merlin love the cars
03:01they have the chance to work on.
03:03At the end of the day, it's a piece of art as well.
03:04I've got a huge amount of responsibility
03:07when it's in my care.
03:09These race cars and one-offs, you may own them,
03:11but you're a custodian of them.
03:12And I'm sort of blessed to be able to be a day custodian,
03:15shall we say.
03:16I look after them for the day.
03:17I get to drive them.
03:18I get to smell them, recreate features
03:21that have been lost in them.
03:23The name I coined after a couple of drinks one night.
03:27My ex-wife used to work for Vogue.
03:29And as a result, I used to go to some very swanky parties
03:32with all these sort of dowager duchess types.
03:33And they would all ask, well, what do you do?
03:36And rather than just say, I work at Rolls-Royce,
03:38I'm a metal worker or a restorer.
03:40I say, I'm with the Romance of Rust.
03:42Oh, really, dear?
03:43You know, and they would often leave it at that.
03:45But it was just a little joke I had going on.
03:47Once I'd started up on my own,
03:48I was with the Romance of Rust, you know.
03:50It applies, if you think about it,
03:53to these cars, because there's a great romantic notion.
03:55They're often substitutes for children, wives,
03:58you name it, baby.
04:00With the current state of the market,
04:02things are looking good for Lance and Merlin.
04:04That's a car that's about done gold for the last two years.
04:07And they don't seem to be slowing down.
04:08The business is looking very rosy.
04:10We've never been busier.
04:11But with all this demand for restoration and sales,
04:14Lance and Merlin need to expand rapidly to keep up.
04:17And despite the pressures brought by success,
04:20the McCormacks are passionate about what they do.
04:22It doesn't seem like work.
04:24I sort of pinch myself sometimes
04:25that I'm being paid to do something that I love.
04:31Next time on Rust to Riches,
04:33the Ferrari's windscreen needs resealing.
04:36But work on such an expensive car
04:38is never without its worries.
04:40There's a big scratch here in the glass.
04:43If you took it out and broke it, we're in trouble here.
04:45And it's nightmarish if that happens.